quotes about art, architecture and other important things

a collection of quotes that I gathered over the years through my reading.  I don't necessarily agree with all of the ideas and opinions expressed herein but those that either provoked thought or tickled were included.

architectural theory Archives - studio of Glenn Williams Architect NCARB

draw it out

By | architect, architectural theory, architecture | No Comments

“…it is impossible to make these building matters understandable if one doesn’t see them drawn out, and even in a drawing it is difficult to take in.  And no one can understand [building] if he can’t interpret [drawings], so that it takes more effort to interpret a drawing than to make one.  This may seem unreasonable [but it is so] since many people will draw for exercise without really knowing what they are doing.” – – Filarete [c. 1400 – c. 1469], a Florentine Renaissance architect, sculptor and architectural theorist

 

Antonio di Pietro Averlino also "Averulino", known as Filarete (from φιλάρετος, Greek for "lover of excellence"),

Antonio di Pietro Averlino also “Averulino”, known as Filarete (from φιλάρετος, Greek for “lover of excellence”),

essences

By | architect, architectural theory, architecture, entrepreneur, inventor, quotes on art and architecture, Uncategorized | No Comments

“God is in the details.” – – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe [1886-1969] German American architect

Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer, but to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design.  Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers.” – -Steve Jobs 1955-2011] American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor

Steven Paul Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs

architecture is…

By | architect, architectural theory, architecture, designer, postmodernism, quotes on art and architecture | No Comments

“Architecture tries to preserve body heat and ritual.” – – Hans Hollein [1934-2014] Austrian postmodern architect and designer

Hans Hollein in 1976

Hans Hollein in 1976

“Architecture is the knowing, correct, and magnificent play of forms beneath the sun.” – – Le Corbusier [1887-1965] Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in 1933, better known as Le Corbusier

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in 1933, better known as Le Corbusier

“Architecture needs no explanation, and its reason-for-being comes with being built and inhabited.  Too close a reliance on the verbal explanation reduces the building to the status of a footnote.” – –  Robert McCarter [b. about 1953] American architect, author and educator

Robert McCarter

Robert McCarter

“Architecture is to make us know and remember who we are.” – – Geoffrey Jellicoe [1900-1996] English architect, town planner, landscape architect, garden designer and author

Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe

Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe

“Architecture is the art of how to waste space.” – – Phillip Johnson [1906-2005] American architect advocating the the modernist then the postmodernist idiom

Philip Cortelyou Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson

falling out of love

By | architect, architectural theory, architecture, artist, author, philosopher, poet, quotes on art and architecture | No Comments

“I would advise you to wait a while until your enthusiasm for your project has boiled over.  Afterwards, you may return and consider it more carefully, when your judgment is no longer swayed by fondness for your design but guided by calm reason.” Leon Battista Alberti [1404-1472] Italian humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer; he epitomized the Renaissance man

Leon Battista Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti

the utility of what is not

By | architectural theory, architecture, philosopher, poet | No Comments

“We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; but it is on the space where there is nothing that the utility of the wheel depends.  We turn clay to make a vessel; but it is upon the space where there is nothing that the utility of the vessel depends.  We pierce doors and windows to make a house; and it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the utility of the house depends.  Therefore, just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the utility of what is not.” – – Lao Tse [believed to be a contemporary of Confucius during 5th century BC] ancient Chinese philosopher and poet

Laozi, depicted as Daode Tianzun

Laozi, depicted as Daode Tianzun

on focus

By | architect, architectural theory, architecture, author, educator, quotes on art and architecture | No Comments

“If architects focus only on compositional methods as means without ends, the ends will certainly be determined by forces outside of architecture – by those economic forces we find so prominent within the profession today, masquerading as ‘fashion’ and ‘style.” – –  Robert McCarter [b. about 1953] American architect, author and educator

Robert McCarter

Robert McCarter